


Where There Is A Flame Someone’s Bound To Get Burned

by iamtheoneinthehole



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-19
Updated: 2014-03-19
Packaged: 2018-01-16 06:19:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,792
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1335187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iamtheoneinthehole/pseuds/iamtheoneinthehole
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompted by whatdoyewant; Hmmm... the OT6 boys have a lot of electronics in their house. It'd be a shame if the circuits shorted out, and a house fire happened, don't you think? It'd also be a shame if one of them ended up trapped inside. (*laughs manically*)</p>
<p>It had been an ordinary day when it’d happened.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Where There Is A Flame Someone’s Bound To Get Burned

**Author's Note:**

> I've basically decided the prompter who gave me this is a genius... an evil genius (which I mean in the nicest way possible). I just really hope I did their prompt justice- Enjoy!

It had been an ordinary day when it’d happened. Gavin had always figured with something like this that there’d be warnings of some kind, dark skies, gloomy atmosphere, a sense of foreboding maybe… But it’d been a nice day out, sun glaring in through the windows as Gavin had stretched out on the carpet in a way that’d made Jack laugh a little when he’d spotted him earlier, claiming he was doing a pretty good impression of Joe the cat (since he’d often stretch out like this whenever the sun shone through one of the office windows).

But the floor of the apartment they and their four other boyfriends shared was comfy. Plus, it gave him the space he needed to stretch out whilst he replied to a few emails from Burnie, Matt and a few from his parents. He was having one of his rare days off and that meant he was gonna make the most out of having a lazy day as possible, even if that meant adopting cat-like positions on the carpet in the process.

Eventually a bemused Jack had let him be, offering his boyfriend a quick kiss to the forehead before leaving to head over the the office to join Geoff, Ryan and Michael who’d already left a few hours ago. Ray, on the other hand, was still fast asleep in the next room. The lad had also been given the day off after Burnie had come into their office yesterday only to notice that Ray had practically been dead on his feet; a result of after the last minute edits he’d had to do for Kdin (who would usually have done it but he’d been off sick for the last week or so and Lindsay was too swamped by RWBY right now to take anything extra onto her plate). The man had taken one look at Ray before telling him, in no uncertain terms, to ‘take a damn day off dumbass before you keel over’. Ray had made some half hearted comeback at the time, but they’d all seen the gratitude in the man’s eyes as he’d ‘grudgingly’ agreed to Burnie’s terms.

When he’d gotten in that night, Ray had been out like a light (much to his boyfriends’ amusement) and had slept through the rest of the evening without stirring so he’d probably be up in a few hours. Then he and Gavin could go out to get something to eat (since between the two of them cooking, they’d probably burn the kitchen down without one of the others supervising) before playing a few video games (since even on their days off, they couldn’t quite get away from that). But, in the meantime, he’d let his boyfriend get some rest, entertaining himself instead by idly scrolling through the ‘ah ot6’ tag that Lindsay had introduced him to a few weeks ago when he’d been idly musing about whether or not the fans had a ship name for the six of them yet.

He’d been grinning like an idiot over a cute sketch someone had done of them in their minecraft skins when the lights had suddenly flickered out and his laptop had suddenly started working off the battery. He’d frowned for a moment, assuming that it was a power cut and taking a moment to be grateful, at least, that it was day so he’d be able to find his way around their flat until whoever was in charge of this stuff got the power back up and running…

It was then he’d smelt the smoke...

He’d immediately tensed up, eyes flitting around the room in search of the source of the smell, his breath catching a little in his throat as he caught sight of where, in the corner where Geoff had left his Wii U on charge this morning, a small fire had started to lick its way along the table it’d been rested on top of.

His first thought was could he put it out? His quick answer to that thought was no as he’d watched it jump from the table to the nearby curtains, setting them alight at an alarming speed as the Brit had quickly scrambled to his feet, the laptop he’d been using moments ago completely forgotten…

His second thought had been Ray.

He’d been across the room in seconds, almost knocking the door off its hinges in the rush to get it open (and, in any other circumstances, he was pretty sure he’d be a mixture of proud and excited over that because it’d looked bloody top), before rushing over to where his boyfriend was curled up on their giant bed.

"Ray, get up."

"Go ‘way Vav, ‘m tired."

"Ray you need to get up right now."

“‘n a minute.”

"Ray!" The urgency in his tone finally seemed to get his boyfriend’s attention, his eyes suddenly a lot more alert as he’d taken in the wild and possibly slightly panicked looked that was no doubt shaping his expression right now.

"What is it Gav?"

"Ray we have to go. Now-"

"Why?"

"Fire." And as if to prove his point the couch visible from their bedroom had suddenly surged up in flames and suddenly Ray was out of bed and throwing on a shirt (that was quite obviously his instead of Ray’s but Gavin sure as hell wasn’t about to call him out on it so long as they both managed to get out okay). He then grabbed a couple of others from the wardrobe, handing one to Gavin.

"Smoke kills more people than fire does… so breathe through this." Gavin nodded, quickly fastening the shirt in a position where it’d shield him from the smoke and watching Ray do the same. Under other circumstances he’d probably be laughing right now at how ridiculous they looked… In other circumstances fire wouldn’t be surging forward to the point that it was trapping them there in the bedroom.

Gavin had quickly moved to shut the door, Ray shoving a few more shirts from the wardrobe under the gap at the bottom in the attempts to block any smoke that attempted to creep through. After that, they’d looked at each other with a ‘What now?’ expression. Their only obvious way out had just been blocked and given that both Ray and Gavin’s phone had also been on charge in that room, they no longer had phones or any way of contacting emergency services…

So plan C then. “Ray grab all the shirts you can find, anything that looks like it can take a little weight.”

"You’re gonna have us build a rope out of them aren’t you."

"Got any better ideas?"

"Literally none… and its far from the worst idea you’ve ever had anyway Vav." The attempted tease came off a little shaky and Gavin knew, in all certainty, in that moment that Ray was just as scared as he was.

"Well it’s worth a try right?" He’d offered back, hoping his voice sounded a little bit more steady than he felt right now as he tried to offer what little comfort he could, desperately wanting to take Ray into his arms and tell him everything was gonna be okay but knowing that he couldn’t so long as he needed his hands free to tie the shirts Ray had begun to throw his way together.

In the end they’d managed to put together enough shirts to make it down to the floor below. From there it’d have to be a leap of faith, that’d possibly result in broken bones, but a little injury was better than… well, the alternative to that.

They’d quickly tied the rope to the bed, hoping the sheer mass of furniture that size would be enough to hold a grown man as they each prepared to climb down a makeshift ladder made up of their boyfriends shirts and perhaps a prayer or two.

Gavin had insisted that Ray go first, had been adamant about it in fact, to the point that he’d (quite literally) dug his heels into the ground and had stubbornly refused to scale down the shirts until he knew his boyfriend was safe… Ray had, initially, been just as stubborn about it but, eventually, ever aware of the time limit they had on actually leaving their apartment, Ray had admitted defeat. After sharing a quick kiss with the Brit (which’d had a little bit too much of an ‘in case I don’t make it’ sort of desperation to it to reassure him), and a tight hug that both were reluctant to part from despite the time constraints, Ray had slipped over the ledge and had begun to climb out of their bedroom window…

Gavin had always known the plan wasn’t foolproof (plans made by him rarely were) and he’d been given more than enough proof of that when he’d seen the place where they’d tied the shirts around the bed frame start to… _slip_ a little… He’d been across the room before he’d even fully had a chance to register that fact, hands grabbing onto the material with a vice-like grip as he’d done all he could to support his boyfriend’s weight the rest of the way down, quickly rushing over to the window to make sure he’d landed okay after he no longer felt the man’s weight on the other end of it.

Looking out onto the street below, he could see people gathered when he looked out, neighbors, the couple from next door who never knew quite what to say about their six-way relationship to the point where they ended up babbling a little in their attempts not to sound offensive (attempts that were always bloody hilarious to listen to), the nice old woman one floor down from them who’d baked everyone Christmas cookies that Gavin, Jack and (though he’d tried to hide it) Ryan especially had developed a real fondness for.

He could see the kids he and Michael had played Minecraft with a few times when they’d babysat for their parents (a couple whose intense love of gaming had made them pretty fast friends with the Achievement Hunters) and that one guy and his girlfriend that’d once challenged Geoff to a barbecue-off one summer that’d ended in several instances of hilarity and a whole lot of cooked meat that would end up going to waste because even Michael couldn’t eat everything Geoff had cooked (not even when Gavin had made one of his dumb bets to get the redhead to try).

And, a little further back, he was pretty sure he could see his other boyfriends, Burnie and Lindsay, though he couldn’t quite be sure, What mattered, however, was that he could see Ray and the man seemed to be okay, arm held a little funnily perhaps but… alive. And that was good enough for Gavin.

Honestly though, he wasn’t so sure the same would be true for him for much longer, not with the flames now beginning to lick through the door and the only escape option he had, apparently, no longer valid since there wouldn’t be anyone else up here to help support his own weight as he attempted to scale down their makeshift rope…

So instead he’d moved through to their bathroom and had set the shower running, knowing that it would buy him at least a little time as he’d clambered inside, distantly hoping that someone had called the fire services as he’d shut the door behind him and curled in on himself beneath the soothing jets of water, waiting for his inevitable rescue or… well, waiting for something else that might be inevitable.

——

"What do you fucking mean you can’t go in there?"

"Sir if you’d just listen you’d understand-"

"No you see I don’t think you fucking understand. One of my boyfriends is trapped in that fire and-"

"Sorry did you say _one_ of your boyfriends?" The man’s grin was too fucking smarmy and Geoff didn’t even think about it before his fist was in the man’s face, Michael quickly pulling him back before he could do any real damage though he could see the same anger burning in the man’s gaze that was no doubt reflected in his own right now.

"Kindly keep your prejudices to yourself-" Came Ryan’s seemingly calmer, more collected tone (though Geoff could hear the underlying fear beneath that persona he wore so convincingly to the world that didn’t know him).

"I will if this asshole keeps his fists to himself."

Geoff had been ready to take another swing at the guy when Ryan had once again cut in, his tone soothing as he’d told Geoff that maybe he should go over and join Jack and Ray since their younger boyfriend probably needed him right now and that he and Michael had this covered.

And based on the look in his eyes a few seconds later; dark, thunderous and every bit the image of the mad king they’d always joked about him being, as he’d turned back to face the man Geoff had been speaking to, he believed him.

So he’d headed over to join Jack and Ray, careful maneuvering around the man’s broken leg and, previously, dislocated shoulder to pull the man into a tight hug (probably a little too tight but Ray didn’t call him out on it and, right now, that was exactly what Geoff needed, just the comfort of knowing at least one of their boys who’d been trapped in there was now safe).

Ryan and Michael had come over to join them a few moments later with matching looks of a grim sort of satisfaction as they’d relayed the fact that they’d managed to convince the men to work a little faster. Apparently what was holding them back right now was the fact that the blaze was so forceful that if one of their men or women entered, they’d be more likely to ended up as ashes than actually manage to rescue their boyfriend (if they still could were the unspoken words that none of them were willing to utter).

And so they were forced to wait as the services did their best to battle back the flames, all five of them unusually quiet as they sat huddled around Ray (who’d been given some shock blankets for warmth), eyes fixed on the window that he’d managed to escape through, searching for any signs of life and trying not to panic the longer they failed to see any.

And Lindsay and Burnie were doing their best to offer what little comfort they could to the boys but even they seemed to be struggling not to panic at this point because Gavin was trapped in their apartment while it was on fire and… what if he never made it out?

It was a thought no one wanted to have. It was a thought they were all in denial about already having crossed their minds.

——

Gavin could see the smoke starting to creep through the bathroom door now. He’d more or less given up hope of being rescued at this point, simply consoling himself with the fact that his boyfriends were safe, that Ray had made it and that, while he probably wouldn’t, at least he’d know that the last thing he did in this world was something worthwhile like saving the man he loved.

Because that was a pretty top way to go out as far as dying went.

The water had started to heat up a little now, probably a result of the fire being so close to it, but it wasn’t an unbearable heat and it had bought him time, time to think over the life he’d had, the choices he’d made, the people and places and what it all meant and whether it’d been worth it and the what ifs and the could have beens… In short, it’d bought him time to relive the little time he’d spent on this earth and to decide that he literally wouldn’t have a single part of it any other way.

Because even changing one little thing might’ve meant he’d never have worked at Roosterteeth, or ended up living with Geoff, or working with him, Jack, Michael, Ray and Ryan. Altering even a slight detail might’ve meant they’d never have taken their relationship further, never fallen in love, never lived together in the place that was currently burning down around him… but he couldn’t regret it. Not one bit. Because these last few years had been the best of his entire life.

People often said that a lot of people lived more in a few years than others did in their entire lives didn’t they? Well Gavin had experienced a lifelong, full-scale, romance of the ages in the short time he’d spent with his boys and he’d take that over a long and probably miserable existence of working for strange and ambiguous productions that needed his slow mo skill sets any day…

He could see just a hint of flame beginning to lick its way through the door to the bathroom and his last idle thoughts were that at least they’d never gotten that pet they’d always talked about maybe getting one day (since he seriously doubted he’d have managed to successfully lever both Ray and said pet out of the window) and that fire actually had a kind of haunting beauty to it when you sat back and truly watched it at work. At least, he guessed, he'd die having just seen something beautiful…

Gavin Free closed his eyes.

——

"Are you sure we should-?"

"Yeah. It’s what he would’ve wanted."

"Does what he wanted really matter anymore? I mean if-"

"Well you’re the one who’ll have to deal with Geoff if you don’t."

"Yeah I guess you’re right." Kdin sighed before leaving it the part of the video where Gavin had made a string of innuendos so ridiculous that they’d had to stop playing for a good two minutes (just to get themselves to stop laughing), and saving his progress before turning his attention to Lindsay. "How’s he doing?"

"Better."

"Better as in he thinks he’s better or better as in he’s actually better."

"Ryan’s claiming its more of the former then the latter but… there’s been progress at least."

"And Ray?"

"Broken bones take time to heal but he’ll get there."

"And the others?"

"Coping pretty well all things considered."

"Well… it could’ve been worse."

"Yeah… Could’ve been a lot worse. Though you’d never believe it from the way _he_ talks about it.”

"Still whining about bed rest huh?"

"Like you wouldn’t believe. Stubbornest dumbass I’ve ever met in my life."

"I thought that was Michael."

"He’s a close second right now, Gavin’s officially relinquished him of that title for the moment."

"Are the burns looking any less…" There was a moment of silence as Kdin trailed off, Lindsay hesitating for a moment before she responded.

"I’m not gonna lie Kdin he looks… different. But he still looks like him. And I know the boys would love him no matter what he looked like. Especially-"

"-After they almost lost him." Lindsay nodded.

"I’m pretty sure neither Geoff nor Michael are letting him out of their sight for the foreseeable future, Jack’s been hovering like a mother hen and Ryan and Ray seem to be a lot more tactile around him right now as if they’re trying to remind themselves he’s still there… they’re coping though just… I guess with things like this, it takes time you know?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"But hey, as you said, it could’ve been a lot worse."

There was a beat of silence and then, "Thanks for filling me in."

"No problem, want me to pass on a message the next time I see him?"

"Tell him I’m glad he’s okay… and that if he ever pulls something like that again-"

"You’ll bring him back just to kill him yourself?" Lindsay offered with a wry smile.

"Sounds about right yeah."

"I have a feeling they’ll be a pretty long waiting line if that happens… but I’ll be sure to pass it on."

"Thanks Linds."

"Anytime."

\----

Perhaps Gavin was a cat.

Okay maybe not literally but that would explain how he was still here even after he’d felt the fire begin to… he quickly shook off the memory before it could fully take root. That part didn’t matter, what mattered was the fact that he was still here, still alive, and maybe that did make him pretty catlike because clearly he’d gained their nine lives somewhere along the way (well it would explain a lot about how he’d also somehow, inexplicably, survived his younger years and the crazy experiments he used to do with Dan).

It didn’t really matter why he was here though either. What mattered was that he was. Being alive after resigning yourself to death was a weird place to be in but it had a strange sense of disbelieving euphoria to it. Everything he experienced now was somehow amazing because he’d believed for a moment there that he’d never get to experience any of these things again.

Like the soft forehead kiss Jack had given him when he’d woken up in hospital, or the less soft half-tackle he’d gotten from Michael as the man had all but flung himself at the Brit in relief (before remembering the burns and backing off a little… Gavin hadn’t exactly minded all that much), or Ryan’s hand squeezing his as Ray pressed the other to his lips and Geoff ran a gentle hand through the Brit’s slightly charred hair.

Of course not everything was sunshine and rainbows. He’d been burned pretty badly and the scars of that were something he was pretty sure he’d be wearing for the rest of his life, plus right now he was stuck on bed rest which was quickly driving him up the walls since he wanted to be up and doing things but his boyfriends’ almost constant presence at his side had helped with that a little.

And any clouds in his metaphorical sky weren’t dark enough to cause any real issues; not when he was still so relieved there was even a sky for the clouds to cross, or a him to make use of the metaphor. And certainly not when he had five boyfriends who never let him forget how much they loved him, not even for a second, not after all they’d been through. And Gavin did the same because having a near death experience had kind of altered his perspective on life really and you never knew when these kinds of things would happen, or if they’d happen again.

After all, last time it had been an ordinary day when it’d happened.


End file.
